My name is Judith Jainullah. I was born 53 years ago in Paramaribo, Suriname.When I was 5 years old, my family moved to Delft, the Netherlands, where I enjoyed my youth and teenage years was trained to be a hairdresser in the Caribbean, but had to do that all over again upon my return to The Netherlands. The following ten years I spent working in hair salons during the day and teaching at the hairdresser Academy in Rotterdam at night.
After ten years working for several employers, I took a big step forward: together with my current husband we started a hairdressing chain called “En Vogue”. I built out the chain to 8 salons. After 25 years of success at En Vogue, my husband and I sold the chain to have time for a new challenge my passion: painting.
I developed a passion for painting years ago when my eyes were opened to the beauty of the French countryside. There in the beauty of Southern France I learned to look, look and look closer. Light, color, form, different elements forming an image. I had the urge to commit this beauty to canvas
My approach to painting originates from color. I mix the colors on the canvas. I work with paint brushes, but also with my hands. I use a squeeze bottle (a heritage from the world of hairdressing) filled with water. I splash this onto the canvas and see what happens when the colors drip. I react to what has been created and sometimes turn the canvas around and add more color. Sometimes I use charcoal and add lines. The forms arise by playing with the acrylic paint. Then I search for more forms and panes and lines.
The search is a very important part in the creation of my work. Throughout the process of my search , I get in touch with a spiritual world and feel connected with the entire universe. Like a hairdresser connects to her client. The way is which she colors and models and cuts the hair…waiting to see how the hair reacts.
The Indians (for instance those in my native country of Suriname) call the hair the sixth sense. The colors and form s and lines that have been created on the canvas, receive a finishing touch with a piece of my daily life. A picture, ripped out of a magazine, or an image from the computer, whatever remains fixed in my minds’ eye. I cut visual pieces out of my daily life and add these to my paintings, drawings and collages.
Each and every search in which I have the privilege to wander, leads to a work of art, which I finish off with an impression of my daily life.
Judith Jainullah